The Treehouse Dean’s List is where we highlight some of our extraordinary members and share with the world people who are passionate about learning, bettering themselves and making a difference.

This edition of the Dean’s List features Treehouse Member Michael Blankinship. Michael lives in Titusville, Florida with his wife and best friend of 22 years, April, their two children Brendon and Megan, and a dog named Max. They are active in the community and spend a lot of time supporting youth activities. His inspiration comes from a strong desire to help others, which has led to Michael’s involvement in a whole host of causes and to his current job as Director of Information Technology at Project Safety (www.projectsafety.com). Michael has worked on a number of projects, including websites for Project Safety, Florida DeMolay (www.fldemolay.org) and A Daughter’s Heart (www.a-daughters-heart.com).

The Interview

What drew you to the web industry?

I have been involved with the IT Industry for over 30 years, and during my career, I picked up the responsibility of developing, maintaining, and hosting web sites. I had “on the job” training with which I used products like FrontPage and Dreamweaver.

How has Treehouse helped you get to where you are now?

I never thought I would be able to design sites without the WYSIWYG interface, because I never had the opportunity to learn proper HTML and CSS, until I found Treehouse. My sites have become leaner and faster. Development time has been greatly reduced, and I get more work as a result of the more professional sites I build.

Tell us a little about your experience evolving through your recent web projects.

With Project Safety, I started developing with Dreamweaver and the site did not flow the way it should. With the training I received from Treehouse, the site is what I envisioned it to be from the beginning. When you are hired to build a site with the potential of Project Safety, every line of code has to be right.

When you feel stuck while programming, what do you do to motivate yourself to get coding again?

I meet with other professionals on the team for ideas, and go back over the site to see if there are other improvements that I can implement that make sense. Additionally, I seek more training videos on Treehouse.

What are your goals for the future?

I would love to continue providing high quality web site work through education and the use of great tools like Treehouse.

From your learning experience, what advice would you give other Treehouse members?

You can never know everything, but the secret to success is knowing where to find the answer!

Is there anything else you would like to share with the community?

I have found that hard work and perseverance does pay off. You are never too old to learn something new. Don’t fear change, embrace it, and make it your own!

We’d like to say a big thank you to Michael for being such a great member, and for sharing his story, Treehouse experience and insights.